LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER
GTA-a-like sandbox is studded with plastic personality
Here in videogame land, Lego is best known for its wacky takes on established universes. That’s why it’s more than a bit of a surprise that this – a prettied-up former Wii U exclusive that owes nothing to Hobbits, caped crusaders, metal men, or space wizards with laser swords – is actually the best game Traveller’s Tales has ever put out. Other Lego games have a safety net: an embedded fan following. Lego City Undercover is instead based on Lego’s unbranded City line of toys, and forced to stand on its own. It nails it. This crime caper is still crammed full of grownup pop culture references – Columbo, Starsky & Hutch, Sherlock Holmes and even the Shawshank Redemption are riffed on. From a line of plastic bricks, Traveller’s Tales has created a fresh universe that’s as fun to exist within for adults as it is for kids. It’s GTA via CBBC.
CRIME STUD-Y
You play as Chase McCain, a supercop with a name that’s suspiciously similar to John McClane. McCain returns to Lego City to help put his nemesis, Rex Fury, behind bars… again. To do this, he must infiltrate the criminal underbelly of this blocky urban sandbox, posing as a crook and making nice with the Triads, generic mobsters, and more as he works his way up the lawbreaker ladder.
It’s all presented with Traveller’s Tales’ trademark humour, incorporating slapstick comedy as well as witty, absurd dialogue and painful puns. During one conversation, Chase is trying to convince a mob boss of his criminal credentials: “I stole some pens,” he says. “A thousand pens… from a child… with a limp.”
If you’ve played a modern Lego game, the fundamentals are the same: there’s a sandbox hub you’re free to explore, and there is a set of linear missions to tackle. Both missions and the world have secrets tucked in every corner, and you’re encouraged to replay each section in Free Play mode, letting you use characters you unlock later to reach new areas.
The main difference here is that you’re always Chase McCain – though he can don various ability-granting disguises. For example, the robber disguise allows him to jimmy doors open with a crowbar; the miner lets him place dynamite; and his police uniform allows him to grapple up specific hook points. Character unlock tokens are cosmetic.
Another big distinction is the combat. Usually in Lego games you mindlessly spam attacks or fire off projectiles. Minus a paint gun, there aren’t any firearms here, but combat takes a page out of the
“MCCAIN RETURNS TO LEGO CITY TO PUT HIS NEMESIS, REX FURY, BEHIND BARS… AGAIN.”
Batman: Arkham playbook. It lacks the satisfying crunch, but each takedown has a lovely animation, and you can counter enemy attacks with a welltimed press of w. You can also grapple enemies, take hold of them and throw them into each other. Once down, you have to slap on the handcuffs.
HIT THE ROAD
Despite those similarities to GTA, Lego City Undercover is as family-friendly as games get. There are no guns because nobody dies. Try to run someone down while driving and they’ll dive out of the way, and even if you do run a civilian over – which you probably will, with the twitchy handling model being what it is – Chase will shout “Sorry!” and you’ll see them jump right back up. At one point you even break a criminal out of jail – it turns out he was locked up for non-payment of 700-odd parking tickets.
Throw in co-op and it’s the perfect game to play with your kids. You’ll both get equal enjoyment out of it, though the split-screen co-op does feel tacked on compared to other Lego games, with every puzzle requiring just one player, and with player two being a Chase clone who’s conveniently never mentioned. Still, co-op wasn’t in the game originally, and it’s good fun nonetheless.
If you’re looking for a refreshing take on the Lego formula, Lego City Undercover is well worth grabbing. Visually, you can tell this is a fouryear-old game with a fresh lick of paint, but the pure joy contained within is timeless.
VERDICT
Freed from the restrictions of big-name licences, Traveller’s Tales tackles the open-world crime genre with personality and gusto. Of all the many Lego games, this is the most distinct and enjoyable. Kirk McKeand